Matthew Chapter 26 Part 2
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Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 2
Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 2
INTRO:
So we ended last Sunday with Judas meeting up with the chief priests that were plotting to take out Jesus, and Judas has worked up a deal willingly with them to hand Jesus over for 30 pieces of silver,
Judas now is strategically watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to hand Him over,
So remember, Christ has explained prophecy about to be fulfilled, and that He would be handed over and crucified, and the feast of Passover is right around the corner, again, we are getting closer and closer to the crucifixion,
The first section we are going to look at here,
The Last Supper Matthew 26:17-25 (Psalm 41:1-13, Mark 14:12-21, Luke 22:7-13, John 13:18-30)
Before we jump in,
I want us to focus on the feast of unleavened bread, we have went over these things when we do communion in remembrance of Passover, but lets break it down,
The feast of unleavened bread is a 7 day feast, God gave Israel back in the old testament, connected to Passover, the reason for it was for Israel to remember how God delivered them from bondage out of Egypt.
The commandment of this is found in Exodus,
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
So Israel is commanded to not partake of any leaven and completely remove it from their homes for 7 days,
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
This feast commanded by God is a memorial or a remembrance of The Exodus, Israel’s departure from Egypt.
But why unleavened bread?
We’ve saw comparisons with how one little spec of yeast or leaven in dough can turn the whole batch, in comparison for wickedness in men,
But take a look at Exodus 12:39
And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
What is this verse saying?
God delivered Israel out of Egypt so quickly that there wasn’t enough time for the dough to rise,
So just cover broadly,
The feast of unleavened bread was a reminder of their hurried departure out of Egypt’s bondage by God’s deliverance,
And we are going to get to Exodus soon, but that is the overall reasoning and it was commanded in remembrance from God,
I want to touch on one more thing for a foundation of this lesson,
We need to look at Passover and the feast of unleavened bread,
The way I explained it last Sunday, it sounded like they were the same event but they are not, they are two separate things,
Leviticus Chapter 23 shows us this,
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
So on the 14th day of the first month is the Passover,
and Feast of unleavened bread would be on the 15th day to the 21st,
The Passover memorializes God’s judgement over Israel’s firstborn from the blood of the lamb,
While the feast of unleavened bread symbolized the Exodus, which is Israel being delivered hastily out of bondage by God.
So again, I just want us to fully understand these events and how they would've taken place so we have a good foundation of what is going on here and in which order,
So Matthew 26 verse 17,
Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
Something i want to first point out, We just saw in Leviticus how the Passover and the Feast of unleaven bread layout on the calendar,
So at first glance reading this verse here it looks like they are already partaking in the feast of unleavened bread while talking about preparation for the Passover meal,
This is one of the places where you may see someone try to say the bible is contradicting itself here, but that isn’t the case,
We will see Luke describe this same event and is even more broad with his description,
But what we need to look at is in Exodus,
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
The same calendar day for the Passover here but at the end of this verse it says “shall kill it in the evening”
So the Passover sacrifice and feasting of it happen in the evening at a transition period of days,
That’s why the Passover and the unleavened bread feasts can sometimes read out of order or even overlapping one another is because the Passover is during an evening transition of day.
The only reason I wanted us to really look at that is because that is something that is pretty commonly debated and I've personally struggled with knowing that these two feasts are separate meanings, but I would get mixed up with one another through scripture,
But looking at verse 17,
Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
So the disciples haven’t began the feast of Passover yet, they come unto Jesus and ask about what?
Preparedness of the Passover feast and where to prepare,
And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
The disciples ask Jesus for preparedness of the Passover feast and this is Jesus’s response,
We are going to break it down in sections,
He said, “Go into the city to such a man,” Let’s pause there,
Who is this man Jesus is describing?
We don’t know, Matthew doesn’t give us that, All that is documented here is “such a man” meaning a certain man, So he has given information to the disciples of
That Phrase is the Greek is G1170 “deina” which is just an indefinite expression of a certain person, So this person is behind the curtain for us.
And say unto him, “The master saith,”
That word “master” translates to teacher or instructor, and notice it is capitalized, meaning Jesus is speaking about Himself here,
My Time is at Hand
This phrase shows that again, Jesus understands that His death and suffering is imminent
We went over it last Sunday, Matthew does a good job at showing us that Jesus knows what is coming,
“I will keep the Passover”
We just went over the Passover feast and the feast of unleavened bread,
The feast of unleavened bread was a symbol of God’s deliverance,
Christ doesn’t recognize the Passover as a “symbol”
In verse 26 of this chapter which we will get there in a minute,
The Lord’s supper is taking place within the Passover meal,
The reason Christ is saying He will “keep the Passover”
Is because He is not abandoning it, I know many people that don’t remember the Passover or much less recognize what it even is,
And some claim “well we don’t teach it because Jesus is the Passover”
and they are exactly right, but why does Jesus say “I will keep the Passover”
Because He isn’t abandoning it, He is revealing the fulfillment of it within Himself,
Paul writes in 1st Corinthians,
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
If we don’t study and keep the Passover feast, how can we fully understand what Paul is writing about here.
Much less how do we understand the full fullfilment and importance of what Jesus has become for us?
That is why Jesus says He will keep the Passover, because He isn’t abandoning it, He is showing His fulfillment. Just like the Mosaic Laws,
So the last phrase here,
And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
“ I will keep the Passover at the house with my disciples.”
Jesus will keep the Passover feast, with His disciples at the house of “such a man”
Jesus has just given them what they asked in verse 17,
Who to speak to, where to go, and what to prepare for,
And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
The disciples followed Jesus’s instructions and prepared for the Passover feast He has just announced,
Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
Remember like we went over, the proper Passover feast takes place in the evening,
And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
What is very important is the timing in which Jesus reveals this information to the disciples,
He announces His betrayal during the Passover meal, not before and not after,
The feast that is commemorating God’s deliverance from judgement and bondage, now is directed towards Jesus revealing His own betrayal.
There is a phrase there that Jesus likes to use when He shows certainty towards something,
“Verily I say unto you” He explains to them that He is for certain that one of His own disciples or students, followers are going to betray Him.
Does everybody remember what we ended with last Sunday that is happening behing the curtain in private?
Judas meeting with the high priests, working up a deal for him to hand Jesus over,
Prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes,
and something to keep in mind, Judas is here now with them partaking in the Passover feast as Christ is explaining this,
Judas is one of the 12
And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
Jesus has just announced that one of them will betray Him,
and again, this is all taking place during the feast of Passover, But Jesus doesn’t call out “Judas will betray me”
He says “one of you” will betray me,
What does this verse say? That every one of them ask him Lord, is it I
The disciples aren't just sorrowful,
Matthew documents that they are EXCEEDINGLY sorrowful and then all their responses aren't towards blaming one another, but about self reflection,
“IS IT I”
they all ask Him, “is it me that will betray you?”
Jesus’s explanation caused personal examination among the disciples,
The way He explains it is leading the disciples to consider their own hearts and question their own loyalty, not point fingers,
On the outside looking in, we all know that Judas is planning His betrayal,
The reactions we are seeing from the disciples need to be noted,
Lets take another look at 1st Corinthians at what Paul says
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
This is Paul speaking to the church in Corinth and correcting them on how they were observing the Lords supper, remember Jesus said He would keep the Passover,
and if you read the whole context of this chapter,
Paul isn’t saying that you must become worthy before taking communion,
If that were the case, NO ONE would be able to take communion,
He is saying that a person must not participate in the Lords supper in an unworthy manner,
We have to recognize and appreciate what the bread and the cup represent, and we are going to go through the meaning in the next section,
but then Paul states in verse 28 here,
“Let a man examine himself”
The solution to the church in Corinth here isn’t to stay away from communion, but to self examine their selfs, fix what is wrong, so that they can properly participate and really honor and appreciate what Christ has done and what it represents,
and I think that ties in perfectly with the disciples,
The way Jesus explains prophecy, leads them to self examination.
what we are seeing take place so far to me is a perfect example of what true Christianity is,
How many times have you heard someone say “well I can’t give my life to Christ because I'm living in sin”
No one is worthy of God’s grace, that’s the point of Jesus Christ and what He did for US
It isn’t about “are we worthy”
It is about self examination and using the word of God which is Jesus Christ in the flesh as our guideline,
and the fact that Paul even explains self examination to the church in Corinth for partaking in the Lords supper,
points directly to the disciples and how Jesus leads them all to self examination instead of finger pointing to one another,
And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
So again, He tells them that one of them that are they partaking in this feast WILL betray Him,
Does He know what Judas has behind the scenes worked up with the chief priests?
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
It reads to me letting scripture interpret itself that Jesus knew who would betray Him,
But what’s important to remember, is that Gods overall plan holds the highest importance and WILL come to pass.
Jesus being God in the flesh knows this,
He could have called Judas out but didn’t, the plan of God must come to pass, and He even uses it in my opinion based on what we read from Paul as a lesson to the disciples and for us,
Self examination
The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
So Jesus explains that what is about to happen has already been written in scripture,
But that doesn't excuse the person who carries out the betrayal.
He even furthers to say that it would have been good for the man if he hadn’t been born,
That is pretty heavy, and remember this is from Jesus,
before we break this verse down I want to go ahead and read the last verse to wrap this section up.
Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
Judas knows what's going on here,
The way Matthew writes it, I read this as
“Judas, who does end up betraying him and has been planning it, even asks to try and blend in,”
Maybe he was self reflecting, but the way it is written to me sounds like he was just going along with it, be that what it is,
But now let’s look back at verse 24 for a second,
The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
What we are seeing here is a correlation between prophecy and responsibility.
Jesus is explaining that His death coming, is not stumbling block in God’s plan, It is happening “as it is written”
pointing back to old testament prophecy.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
Yet he opened not his mouth:
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
So he openeth not his mouth.
For dogs have compassed me:
The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me:
They pierced my hands and my feet.
But there’s something I want us to pay attention to in Matthew in correlation with this,
The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
That first stamement says “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him”
Why is this important?
Jesus doesn’t say that he is being helplessly drug into unforseen tragedy,
He says he is going toward what scripture has declared,
if your taking notes, I want you to highlight or jot that down, because this is important later on in this chapter,
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
This clearly states that Jesus has the power and ability to prevent what is about to take place,
But He is WILLINGLY allowing it to take place, because “the scripture”
MUST BE FULFILLED,
Jesus is doing this Willingly.
And He isn't just doing this Willingly for the ones who loved Him, He isn’t just doing this for Christians, or Jews, or wealthy or poor,
He is doing this for ALL
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Christ did this for ALL,
Not just the ones who follow him now, but also for the ones who spit on His name,
He provided the ticket to all, but that doesn’t mean all are going to except it,
The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Lets look at the next phrase “but woe unto that man by whome the Son of man is betrayed!”
a question I left last Sunday about is Judas in the wrong because God’s plan had to take place?
Clearly Christ does Not say here that because prophecy had to be fulfilled, that the betrayer cannot be blamed,
The prophecy just says that there will be a betrayal, that doesn’t make the betrayer innocent,
There are two truths here that hold with this,
The purpose of God is certain, and Human accountability remains real.
I think this really helps show how free will works.
The phrase “by whom” emphasizes the human instrument through which the betrayal occurs.
God's foreknowledge does not turn Judas into an innocent machine.
Judas acts.
He chooses.
He delivers Jesus over.
And Jesus holds him accountable for that action.
This lines up with what Peter says in Act,
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Does he say “through Righteous hands because of prophecy” No it says WICKED hands,
Paul puts the two sides together here,
The foreknowledge of God, and the wicked hands
God’s purpose and the wicked actions of man are both present in the same event,
But the last phrase I want to look at is probably the strongest in this verse,
The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Jesus says,
“It had been good for that man if he had not been born”
Jesus isn’t saying that Judas shouldn't have been born,
We aren't gonna go into detail because we will cover it when it get’s here,
Judas ends up facing some pretty harsh prosecution,
what He is saying here is,
Judas' coming judgment is so severe that existence itself would have been preferable never to have existed and committed this act.
And I'm going to leave it at that for now,
But what we are seeing Jesus explain about His betrayer,
I want us to look at Luke for second,
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
So the reason we see Jesus describing this about the betrayer is exactly what is said here in Luke,
Judas has spent all this time learning and living under Jesus in person,
He has heard His teachings, witness His works
and yet deliberately chooses to hand Him over,
Compare that to what we saw here in Luke 12
The greater knowledge and stronger relationship we have with God,
The greater our accountability is,
That can be a tough pill to swallow, because what is accountability?
Accountability is the obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for their own actions and decision,
There is a liability we have with Jesus, and that is spreading His word through our actions and decision,
We have to accept responsibility for that,
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Judas being so closely relationed to Christ, He has a higher accountability, and yet still betrays him,
And Judas will be prosecuted accordingly,
But to close out part two of Matthew 26,
This last section is,
The Lord’s Supper Instituted Matthew 26:26-30 (Mark 14:22-26, Luke 22:14-23, 1st Corinthians 11:17-34)
We normally take communion once a year, and try to line it up according to the tradition,
Like we talk about with different holidays throughout the year, when things become a patterned tradition we start to lean towards routine instead of meaning,
Like we saw the disciples doing during the feast of Passover, that Paul even reflects when correcting the church in Corinth,
We don’t keep Passover because we are required to for salvation,
We keep Passover because Christ told us to in honor of His sacrifice for us,
in order for us to fully understand what He has done for us, we keep the Passover,
So to break our pattern in doing communion,
Going over the Lords supper being instituted, we are going to take communion after we go through these verses,
That way we can really focus on what Jesus had intended and the purpose of it
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, and disperses it to the disciples,
and tells them that the bread represents His body, take and eat
What He is doing is introducing a new meaning into the Passover which they already understood,
Like we've covered with the old testament laws, Jesus didn’t do away with them, He fulfilled them and expanded on them, That is what we are going to see Him do with Passover,
It says Jesus took the bread, and that word bread in the Greek is G740 and means simply bread,
he didn’t transfigure or transform it into anything else, it was simply the bread,
What changes isn’t the physical nature of the bread, what changes is what Jesus signifies it as,
Jesus doesn't say this bread has become my body,
He says that this bread is my body,
This bread signifies His body,
Then it says He blessed it,
Jesus gives thanks and blessing before distributing the bread,
But the Greek word “blessed” is G2127
eulogeō (Strong's G2127), meaning to bless, speak well of, or invoke blessing.
Mark 14:22 is the parallel verse to this and the word in the manuscripts he wrote is
“given thanks” (eucharisteō, Strong's G2168) emphasizes gratitude.
Paul does a good job in 1st Corinthians 11:24 and tieing them together,
So the action we see tieing the parallel views together is Thanksgiving and blessing,
Then it says He “break it”
The bread is broken and then distributed to the disciples,
This piece of bread that represents His body is broken and distibuted to many, take a look at how Paul writes it,
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
“This is my body which is broken for you”
The one body is given to many,
Christ is giving the disciples and us foundational imagery of His sacrificial giving,
What we are seeing here in Matthew ties Jesus’s words back to prophecy in Isaiah,
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement of our peace was upon him;
And with his stripes we are healed.
He was body was wounded for OUR transgression, OUR iniquities, and with the stripes of His body, WE are healed,
Then it says “and gave it to the disciples”
It doesn’t document that Jesus ate the bread himself,
Why is this important to pay attention to ?
Because the direction of Jesus’s sacrifice,
The benefit of His death is presented as something GIVEN for others,
Christ's sacrifice isn't presented as an event that happens to Him; it is something He gives on behalf of others.
Then it says, “take and eat, this is my body”
The disciples are instructed to receive what He is giving them,
This is important, because it that important difference between just knowing about Jesus’s sacrifice,
and then actually receiving what He has provided on a personal level.
and then Jesus identifies the bread with His body,
what is important to remember with this, is we see a great connection from Paul,
For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Paul is connecting this one bread with us being one body of believers,
Paul isn’t taking away that the bread represents Christ’s body,
This just shows how the symbolism develops throughout scripture,
Christ gives His body → believers partake of the bread → then believers are understood as one body.
Once we get into Corinthians we will see why this is so important, because they had selfish division which was inconsistent with what we see represented here with the Lords supper,
Bread represents the Body,
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Jesus now gives them the cup, and explains what it means,
So He again, gives thanks and blessed the cup, and says,
“Drink ye all of it”
He tells them to partake in ALL of it,
again showing them to participate,
The disciples are to personally recieve what He is giving them,
The cup becomes the memorial of His blood and the covenant it establishes,
The cup isn’t an object to admire, it is something to receive,
Then we see, “This is my blood of the new testament”,
This is His blood being the seal of the covenant of the new testament,
There’s a couple of things I wanna look at,
Where do we see this for the covenant of the old testament?
And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.
That blood is the seal of the covenant,
and then in Jeremiah, He had already foretold that God would establish a new covenant,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
That I will make a new covenant
With the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
And then He explains a defining feature of this covenant,
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord:For they shall all know me,
From the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord:For I will forgive their iniquity,And I will remember their sin no more.
Matthew 26:28 that we just read ties these promises directly to what Jesus is about to accomplish,
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
We see “My Blood”
Leviticus 17:11 says
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Blood is the seal that is associated with death and sacrifice,
Jesus is saying that His coming death is the means for this promised covenant to be established,
Take a look at Hebrews 9:16
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
What is a testator;? Someone who is put apart and appointed for the last will of testament,
That is Jesus Christ, His blood is the seal of it,
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Then we see, “which was shed for many”
The word “shed” meaning to be poured out in death,
and then it says for “few”......… No MANY
Take a look back in Isaiah,
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,And he shall divide the spoil with the strong;Because he hath poured out his soul unto death:And he was numbered with the transgressors;And he bare the sin of many,And made intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus is identified himself as the suffering servant Isaiah describes here,
Then it says “For the remission of sins”
This is the purpose of the blood being shed,
So we saw back in Matthew chapter 1 the Angel speaking to Joseph in a dream about Jesus before He is even born,
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now in Chapter 26, Jesus himself explains HOW the saving will be accomplished,
His blood will be shed in connection with the New Testament for the remission of sins.
The Old Covenant was established with covenant blood in Exodus 24. The New Covenant is established through the blood of Christ.
But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
The “new” in this verse is the future fulfillment.
Jesus turns their attention away from what’s about to happen
to something that has not yet happened:
a future fellowship with Him in the Father's kingdom.
And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
After the meal, Jesus and His disciples sing a hymn together and then leave Jerusalem for the Mount of Olives.
What’s important to take away from this verse, is that Jesus is willingly walking away toward His arrest, the disciples are still with them and what are they doing?
Singing a hymn together, worshiping,
Communion
Before we close out, we are going to take communion and really focus on what these things represent and why we keep this,
(PASS OUT COMMUNION)
What does Jesus do before they partake?
He blesses the bread and the cup,
(LET JAMES PRAY OVER THEM)
BREAD
Jesus say’s this is His body, which has been broken apart and dispersed to ALL
Partaking in this bread which represents His body, brings us as together as ONE BODY OF CHRIST by accepting Him into us, Like Paul teaches in 1st Corinthians
TAKE AND EAT,
CUP
Jesus says this cup represents His blood, which was shed for the remission of our sins, and a seal of sacrifice for the New covenant establishment,
TAKE AND DRINK
What we see in Mark and in 1st Corinthians, is Jesus also gives thanks over these representations.
(LET PAPA PRAY FOR THANKS OVER THEM)
Conclusion
The biggest take away from this lesson today for me,
Is remember the title of this chapter, “FULFILLMENT AROUND THE CORNER”
what is about to take place is the most important event that has been and will be on in this age we live in.
And What Jesus goes over during the Passover feast with the disciples,
Giving us representations to keep for remembrance and honor among what is about to take place is very important,
Don’t let communion become nothing more than an empty tradition,
Every time you sit down at the dinner table, do you pray over your meal?
And I don’t mean “do you say the blessing” I mean do you really take the time and give thanks for God providing fuel for our bodies and what it represents,
We live in a generation of comfort, a lot of us don’t eat to live we live to eat, I'm guilty of it,
Food is fuel the gives us the energy to do God’s work and reflect Jesus’s light onto others.
Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 2
Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 2
What really kinda slapped me in the face going through this lesson is
I'm guilty of saying the blessing without actually praying over our meals,
I’ve said the same exact blessing word for word for probably the last 10 years and I'm wrong for that,
I'm not really considering what I'm saying when saying the blessing,
It’s amazing how God works,
This past week, before I even got to this part of my notes,
We sat down at the dinner table and we always ask Hank if he wants to pray or if he wants one of us to,
And he said he wanted to, so we held hands and he whispered
“how do I start again I forgot?”
We said,
Buddy just pray for whatever you feel like you want to,
So he prayed and thanked God for Happiness,
Prayed for family,
prayed for school, ALL OF THE ABOVE.
What was funny was he never ended up making it to the food,
But what’s amazing on how God works, is when I made it to the last part of this lesson,
I thought back to Hank saying the blessing and how sincere and from the heart it really was,
and how for the past probably 10 years, when I say the blessing it’s empty and repetitive because it has become a habit and tradition
where Hank’s prayer came from sincerity and really thanking God for the blessings in his life,
What I want us to focus on from this
is not letting something that is meant to be honorable and sacred,
become an empty and meaningless habit or tradition.
